To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

Acting up Monday, April 5, 1999 catsis.weber.edusignpost Volume 61 Number 57 One Act plays draw sell-out crowds in The Lair. I HV see a&e page 6 1 'Mom I 7 l - , . : i M Phone calls alert ASWSU to online voting irregularities Rochele Barker and Dee Hansen react to the election confusion Friday. By Leo Dirr campus affairs editor-7ie Signpost The Associated Students of Weber State University election committee have declared the results of the final online election void because of a suspicious block of 200 to 400 votes that were cast between 8 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m.' Friday. "1 have a hard time believing that 200 to 400 people were up all night voting," said Roque Manzanares, government relations director and elections chairman. Manzanares said he received the first of a barrage of phone calls at 8 a.m. Friday from students saying they tried to vote, but the computer system wouldn't let them because it claimed they already voted. Although he quit keeping track after the seventh such call, Manzanares said, he estimates the ASWSU office received between 35 to 40 of those phone calls Friday. "The first call wasn't a big deal," Manzanares said. "I thought maybe somebody typed in the wrong Social Security number. But, when we got the third call, I knew something was wrong." Because ASWSU's election process was conducted online for the first time this year, a person only had to know another student's Social Security number to vote in their stead. WSU President Paul Thompson said when he first became aware the voting would be done online, the possibility of people misusing So cial Security numbers to vote for others was a concern. But, the election committee "indicated they had worked on ways to make it secure," Thompson said. When the election committee realized something had" gone wrong with this year's online election, the committee met with Thompson, Anand Dyal-Chand, vice president of student affairs, Judy Hurst, director of student activities, and Don Gardner, chief information officer, Manzanares said. Gardner said from the computer server logs he was able to ascertain, there were a "high rate of transactions from particular IP addresses" during the hours of voting being investigated. IP addresses serve as a mark of identity for computers, he said. A high rate of transactions were made from two or three on-campus computer terminals before midnight Thursday, Gardner said. Also, one off-campus IP address showed a high rate of activity after midnight Friday, he said. "We don't know what those transactions were, specifically," Gardner said. Manzanares said the election committee called every third telephone number from a list of more than 200 students who supposedly voted between midnight and 4 a.m. Friday. The committee was able to contact 12 students on that list and all 12 said they had not voted, Manzanares said. "We're continuing to make phone calls to See Online page 8 Segregated voting draws fire By Preston McConkie asst. lifestyles editor-The Signpost Several criticisms are being leveled at the new method of voting created by administrators and the ASWSU election committee. At a "town meeting" held March 3 in the Wildcat Theater, Roque Manzanares, government relations director and ASWSU election chairman, announced that radical changes had been made in the way voting would take place. He said the decision to change the procedure was made by himself; the other members of the election committee; Anand Dyal-Chand, vice president of student affairs and Felicia Ganlher, coordinator for student government. The changes meant that candidates for academic senators, traditional and nontraditional senator and executive officers would all be voted for over the Internet. Also, "special interest" senators would be voted lor separately, and only the registered members of those groups would be allowed to vote for those seats. Lists w ould be provided telling who belonged to par ticular racial and disability groups, and those not appearing on the lists would not be allowed to vote." Manzanares said the new system wasn't "perfect yet, and we've got some things to work out." However, he expressed great optimism that the system would boost voter participation. But before the first ballots were cast, dissatisfaction was already being expressed. Ardcll Jenks, former senator for students with disabilities, worried segregating the vote would cause problems for people who deserved and wanted to vote. "There are a lot of people who are disabled who haven't registered at the office for students with disabilities, because they don't want people to know they're disabled. It's an all-day process to get registered and verified there, and a lot of other people just don't want to go through the hassle." Before the primary elections, Sammy lnkumsah, international students senator, said he didn't like the new system. See Voting page 5 Special Constituency Senators (by of votes and of constituency) LatinoChicunoHispanic y-Eliana LeDuc 18,4.7 Veterans vv-Phil Sloyer 6, .7 AsianPacific Islander vy-Rick Waller 5.2.3 Taunya T. Carus- 3 Black Students r-Melvin Price 5, 3.3 Students with Disabilities -Josh Jones 23,12.5 Jason Abcrcrombie 2 Native American vv-Margarei Pilcher 23, 15.3 International vv-Sammy lnkumsah 20, 17 Nam Le ' 9 Nedu Sudeyhi (write-in) 18 Res d ence Halls it' -Tracy Whitins (write-in) ! 9, 6.5 I . .." ;T7 Many were disappointed by the election announcement. Charges can bring heavy penalties Anyone charged in connection with the voting improprieties could face prison time. Utah State Criminal Code (20A-1-603). "Fraud, interference, disturbance tampering with ballots or records," makes it illegal for anyone to fraudulently vote if they are not entitled to vote, or vote more than once in any election as well as other actions. Anyone convicted under this statute can be fined up to SI .(XX). face prison time of no more than live years or both. However, 20A-4-50I , "Flection returns Forgery," makes it unlawful for any person to commit or cause any fraud in any election in any manner. A conviction under this statute carries the penalty of imprisonment for not less than two and not more than 10 years. Frank Guliu..a, due process officer, said it is not considered double jeopardy for a student to be punished by both the university and the state for the same crime. "My guess is that if they've caught anyone, on Monday, the police will refer the matter to me lo be examined under due process," Guliu.a said. Weber Stale Police Sgt. Dane LeBlanc said WSI'D had not become involved in the matter as of Satuiday. inside post news seepage 2 &3 editorial see page 4 a&e see page 6 SportS see page 10 Classifieds .see page 12

Public Domain. Courtesy of University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University.

Full-Text

Acting up Monday, April 5, 1999 catsis.weber.edusignpost Volume 61 Number 57 One Act plays draw sell-out crowds in The Lair. I HV see a&e page 6 1 'Mom I 7 l - , . : i M Phone calls alert ASWSU to online voting irregularities Rochele Barker and Dee Hansen react to the election confusion Friday. By Leo Dirr campus affairs editor-7ie Signpost The Associated Students of Weber State University election committee have declared the results of the final online election void because of a suspicious block of 200 to 400 votes that were cast between 8 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m.' Friday. "1 have a hard time believing that 200 to 400 people were up all night voting," said Roque Manzanares, government relations director and elections chairman. Manzanares said he received the first of a barrage of phone calls at 8 a.m. Friday from students saying they tried to vote, but the computer system wouldn't let them because it claimed they already voted. Although he quit keeping track after the seventh such call, Manzanares said, he estimates the ASWSU office received between 35 to 40 of those phone calls Friday. "The first call wasn't a big deal," Manzanares said. "I thought maybe somebody typed in the wrong Social Security number. But, when we got the third call, I knew something was wrong." Because ASWSU's election process was conducted online for the first time this year, a person only had to know another student's Social Security number to vote in their stead. WSU President Paul Thompson said when he first became aware the voting would be done online, the possibility of people misusing So cial Security numbers to vote for others was a concern. But, the election committee "indicated they had worked on ways to make it secure," Thompson said. When the election committee realized something had" gone wrong with this year's online election, the committee met with Thompson, Anand Dyal-Chand, vice president of student affairs, Judy Hurst, director of student activities, and Don Gardner, chief information officer, Manzanares said. Gardner said from the computer server logs he was able to ascertain, there were a "high rate of transactions from particular IP addresses" during the hours of voting being investigated. IP addresses serve as a mark of identity for computers, he said. A high rate of transactions were made from two or three on-campus computer terminals before midnight Thursday, Gardner said. Also, one off-campus IP address showed a high rate of activity after midnight Friday, he said. "We don't know what those transactions were, specifically," Gardner said. Manzanares said the election committee called every third telephone number from a list of more than 200 students who supposedly voted between midnight and 4 a.m. Friday. The committee was able to contact 12 students on that list and all 12 said they had not voted, Manzanares said. "We're continuing to make phone calls to See Online page 8 Segregated voting draws fire By Preston McConkie asst. lifestyles editor-The Signpost Several criticisms are being leveled at the new method of voting created by administrators and the ASWSU election committee. At a "town meeting" held March 3 in the Wildcat Theater, Roque Manzanares, government relations director and ASWSU election chairman, announced that radical changes had been made in the way voting would take place. He said the decision to change the procedure was made by himself; the other members of the election committee; Anand Dyal-Chand, vice president of student affairs and Felicia Ganlher, coordinator for student government. The changes meant that candidates for academic senators, traditional and nontraditional senator and executive officers would all be voted for over the Internet. Also, "special interest" senators would be voted lor separately, and only the registered members of those groups would be allowed to vote for those seats. Lists w ould be provided telling who belonged to par ticular racial and disability groups, and those not appearing on the lists would not be allowed to vote." Manzanares said the new system wasn't "perfect yet, and we've got some things to work out." However, he expressed great optimism that the system would boost voter participation. But before the first ballots were cast, dissatisfaction was already being expressed. Ardcll Jenks, former senator for students with disabilities, worried segregating the vote would cause problems for people who deserved and wanted to vote. "There are a lot of people who are disabled who haven't registered at the office for students with disabilities, because they don't want people to know they're disabled. It's an all-day process to get registered and verified there, and a lot of other people just don't want to go through the hassle." Before the primary elections, Sammy lnkumsah, international students senator, said he didn't like the new system. See Voting page 5 Special Constituency Senators (by of votes and of constituency) LatinoChicunoHispanic y-Eliana LeDuc 18,4.7 Veterans vv-Phil Sloyer 6, .7 AsianPacific Islander vy-Rick Waller 5.2.3 Taunya T. Carus- 3 Black Students r-Melvin Price 5, 3.3 Students with Disabilities -Josh Jones 23,12.5 Jason Abcrcrombie 2 Native American vv-Margarei Pilcher 23, 15.3 International vv-Sammy lnkumsah 20, 17 Nam Le ' 9 Nedu Sudeyhi (write-in) 18 Res d ence Halls it' -Tracy Whitins (write-in) ! 9, 6.5 I . .." ;T7 Many were disappointed by the election announcement. Charges can bring heavy penalties Anyone charged in connection with the voting improprieties could face prison time. Utah State Criminal Code (20A-1-603). "Fraud, interference, disturbance tampering with ballots or records," makes it illegal for anyone to fraudulently vote if they are not entitled to vote, or vote more than once in any election as well as other actions. Anyone convicted under this statute can be fined up to SI .(XX). face prison time of no more than live years or both. However, 20A-4-50I , "Flection returns Forgery," makes it unlawful for any person to commit or cause any fraud in any election in any manner. A conviction under this statute carries the penalty of imprisonment for not less than two and not more than 10 years. Frank Guliu..a, due process officer, said it is not considered double jeopardy for a student to be punished by both the university and the state for the same crime. "My guess is that if they've caught anyone, on Monday, the police will refer the matter to me lo be examined under due process," Guliu.a said. Weber Stale Police Sgt. Dane LeBlanc said WSI'D had not become involved in the matter as of Satuiday. inside post news seepage 2 &3 editorial see page 4 a&e see page 6 SportS see page 10 Classifieds .see page 12